A manifesto from a group of evangelical leaders is causing controversy for its anti-LGBTQ content.
The “Nashville Statement,” a manifesto from the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW), outlines the group’s views on sexuality and gender in order to act as a guide of sorts for churches.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the results aren’t favourable towards LGBTQ people.
Comprising 14 articles, it opens with the declaration that “God has designed marriage to be a…union of one man and one woman, as husband and wife.” It adds, “We deny that God has designed marriage to be a homosexual, polygamous or polyamorous relationship.”
“We deny that adopting a homosexual or transgender self-conception is consistent with God’s holy purposes,” the statement continues, adding, “We deny that sexual attraction for the same sex is part of the natural goodness of God’s original creation.”
The statement also notes that transgender individuals should embrace religion to “forsake transgender self-conceptions” and accept the “God-ordained link” between sex and gender identity.
And there’s no hope for those who support the LGBTQ community, as the evangelical leaders consider it “sinful to approve of homosexual immorality or transgenderism.”
“The spirit of our age does not delight in God’s good design of male and female. Consequently, confusion reigns over some of the most basic questions of our humanity,” Council President Denny Burk said in a statement. “The aim of The Nashville Statement is to shine a light into the darkness — to declare the goodness of God’s design in our sexuality and in creating us as male and female.”
However, the use of Nashville in the name — due to a conference of the leaders in the city — has drawn fire from Nashville’s Democractic Mayor Megan Barry, who tweeted: “The [CBMW’s] so-called ‘Nashville Statement’ is poorly named and does not represent the inclusive values of the city and people of Nashville.”
The @CBMWorg's so-called "Nashville Statement" is poorly named and does not represent the inclusive values of the city & people of Nashville
And elsewhere on social media, users rallied against the views expressed in the manifesto. Comedian Kumail Nanjiani, who has spoken out against transphobic jokes, didn’t hold back in expressing his thoughts:
Fuck the #NashvilleStatement. Fuck the evil shit that people justify using religion.
Four people are dead and at least 13 others injured after a street racer fleeing police lost control and crashed into a popular LGBTQ nightclub in Tampa, Florida.
Surveillance video from the club shows pedestrians running for safety as a silver Toyota Camry careens through an intersection and into a crowd of more than a dozen people outside Bradley's on 7th.
The crash occurred around 12:45 a.m. on Saturday, just 15 minutes before drag performers were scheduled to take the stage, according to the New York Post.
A video shows a Burger King manager -- who also owns the franchise -- ordering an irate female customer to leave after she tried to get an employee disciplined for allegedly misgendering her, despite the fact that she had repeatedly misgendered the worker first.
It’s unclear when the video was recorded, but it has been circulating widely in recent days.
The video, filmed from the customer’s point of view, opens with her at a Kansas Burger King demanding to speak with the manager. A male employee goes to get the manager, prompting the customer to demand the manager’s full name. The employee tells her he doesn’t know the manager’s last name.
A Florida man has been arrested and charged with the murder of Girlalala, a 21-year-old transgender TikTok influencer, after allegedly shooting her during what appears to have been a dispute between the couple.
Broward County Sheriff's Office deputies say 25-year-old Shanoyd Whyte Jr. shot Girlalala shortly before 7 p.m. on Friday, November 14, while the two were sitting in a car on the side of the road in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida.
According to Miami-based WPLG, video from a nearby Tesla shows a man believed to be Whyte getting out of the driver's side of a sedan as Girlalala tries to exit the passenger side. He appears to grab her by the hair and force her back inside before pacing outside the car with a cellphone in hand.
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